Study objectives
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the severity and
organ distribution of clinically significant transfusion related IO in a
cohort of pediatric cancer patients that had an MRI completed for
clinical concern of iron overload. Liver iron concentration (LIC) was
measured and used as a surrogate marker for total body iron while
measures of cardiac, pancreatic, and pituitary iron deposition were
assessed and used as a surrogate marker for labile iron exposure.
Secondary objectives were to (1) assess associations between cancer type
and the level and distribution of IO; (2) assess associations between
hepatic and/or pancreatic IO with pituitary and cardiac iron levels; (3)
assess treatment and follow up in patients diagnosed with IO; and (4)
assess the correlation between serum markers of IO and MRI-confirmed
organ siderosis.